Her Song to His Silence
by Her Pretty Smile
Summary: —Nalu. He felt like a stranger to the world around him ever since he had experienced a trauma when he was six years old that caused his vocal chords to malfunction. She, on the other hand, felt like a nobody to the world, like she was just another average female who passed by. But then her life changed when she discovered his silence, and his life changed when he heard her sing.


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**Her Song to His Silence**

by Her Pretty Smile

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"Sometimes, silence can make someone experience feelings that they've never felt before..."

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**First Part**: _His Silence and Her Song_

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HE WAS ALONE IN a room full of strangers.

No one spoke to him; he liked that, because if they did, then it would be like speaking to a wall, and he didn't want that to happen. He didn't want to make any enemies on his first day, but he didn't feel like making friends either.

His life bore a large crack ever since the incident happened long ago.

So he stayed in his seat, indifferently observing his classmates animatedly talking to each other, their faces boring large grins that made him want to look away. It was frustrating to think that the people around him could easily do what he wanted to do the most but could not.

The bell rang at that moment, signaling the beginning of class. He gripped the piece of paper in his hand tightly, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible as to not attract any attention.

Finally, after a few minutes, the teacher walked into the room, holding a pile of books that looked overwhelmingly big and forbidding.

He gritted his teeth slightly before standing up.

The teacher, Gildarts Clive, a large man with shoulder-length orange hair and bored brown eyes, looked at him inquisitively when he approached him.

He handed him the paper.

Gildarts raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to say anything to me first?"

He pursed his lips in mild annoyance, and, with reluctance and plain embarrassment, signaled to Gildarts that he couldn't speak.

The man understood instantly and turned his attention to the paper in the boy's hand. He took it from him and read it silently before saying, "So you're Natsu Dragneel…?"

Said boy nodded.

Gildarts grinned. "Welcome to Fairy Tail Academy, boy. I'm Gildarts Clive, your uncle."

Natsu stared at him.

_Huh?_

Gildarts laughed outright. "You don't know? I was Igneel's best bud. Before he, uh, _left_… He asked me to watch over you or something because of your condition. Guess I'd better make it easy for you to adjust, eh?"

Natsu still looked at him as if he were crazy.

Gildarts frowned slightly. "Boy, this _is_ difficult. Tell you what, Natsu… Do you know sign language? Because I do. It'll make it easier for me to communicate with you. That is, unless you prefer writing on paper."

Natsu shook his head immediately and signed, '_No_.'

"Good, or else that would be very awkward." He stood up and smiled. "Well! I guess I should give you all your permanent seats! So, Natsu, go on ahead, get your bag, and stand to the side so that it'll be easier for me. Everyone, follow suit!"

The door opened, and Natsu turned his head towards it. A girl with long blonde hair tied into a messy bun was panting while leaning against the wall.

"G-Gomen, sensei," she said, breathing heavily. "My alarm didn't go off."

Gildarts waved her apology away. "That's all right, young lady. We were just about to be seated."

Her expression turned relieved and she stood behind Natsu, waiting patiently.

"All right." Gildarts scanned the list. "In the front row, respectively, Levy McGarden, Freed Justine, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, Erza Scarlet, Jellal Fernandes, Lucy Heartfilia, and Natsu Dragneel."

The girl, Lucy Heartfilia, nodded slightly and went to her assigned seat.

Natsu slowly followed.

When he sat down, she smiled at him.

"Hello," she said politely. "May I know your name?"

He blinked at her, but he didn't respond.

Taking it the wrong way, an angry expression crossed her face, and she snapped in a low voice so that Gildarts couldn't hear, "Excuse me. Didn't you hear me?"

He merely looked at her.

Fed up, she turned her head away from him, fuming. _That bastard… What a pompous, condescending jerk!_

Natsu bowed his head slightly, staring at his hands. _Great_, he thought. _Now she thinks that I'm a jerk. Well, it's better than to be called a freak, anyway._

Gildarts started to drone on and on about the introduction to Chemistry. Lucy tried her best to pay attention to him, but her mind was somewhere else. She wanted to get away from the pink-haired boy beside her. She was used to being called a brat, and she was used to the hurtful words thrown her way, but she couldn't stand anyone ignoring her. She guessed that it was some kind of ego on her part, and for a moment, she felt sheepish about her feelings. _Maybe he just doesn't want to talk… I'm going overboard…_

After what seemed like an eternity of debating with herself mentally, she finally got the courage to rip out a piece of paper from her notebook and write, '_I'm sorry_' on it.

After the bell rang, signaling the end of first period, she hastily placed it on his table and hurried off to her next class.

When she got there and sat on the seat she felt comfortable the most, a piece of paper was placed on her table by someone who passed by. She looked at it curiously and saw her own handwriting and another's.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw what was written.

'_What are you sorry for?_'

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WHEN THE LUNCH BELL rang, Natsu grabbed his bag and went off towards the bench beside the cherry blossom tree, thinking that he could get some peace and solitude there.

He sat down and got out his bento. _It's really peaceful here_, he thought, satisfied.

But then someone with long, spiky black hair and sharp blood-red eyes passed by. "Hey, you. You look familiar," he said gruffly.

Natsu just stared at him.

Gajeel huffed as the memory came back to him. "You're that mute guy from Clive's class. You got it bad, huh?"

Natsu looked like he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Gajeel said indifferently, "You can use sign language, you know. I learned it when I was little."

Natsu, surprised, signed, '_Why did you learn it?_'

'_My mother was mute, too_.' Gajeel signed awkwardly.

Natsu tried his best not to laugh, but was failing to do so. '_You know, you look really lame_.'

'..._Shut up_.'

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'_I HAVE TO JOIN a club?_' Natsu asked Gildarts incredulously.

Gildarts scratched the back of his head. "Well, in this Academy, all the students are required to join at least one club…"

Natsu made a pokerface. '_Oi, old man, can't you see that I'm mute?_'

"I know that," Gildarts said exasperatedly. "That's why I signed you up for a music club."

'_A music club? Are you expecting me to_—'

"You can play instruments, right?" Gildarts interrupted.

An unreadable expression crossed Natsu's face. '_I gave up on playing instruments long ago, and I don't plan on doing it again._' He started to walk away.

"You know…" Gildarts said apprehensively and hesitatingly, "…your father would've wanted you to."

Natsu stopped in his tracks for a fraction of a second, but continued on as if he didn't hear the older man.

Gildarts sighed.

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LAST PERIOD ENDED AND Natsu found himself walking on the hallways, alone, after being told by 'Happy-sensei' to clean up the room. He was deeply annoyed by the blue-haired man, but he felt a slight fondness for his innocence and his childlike actions in class because it kind of reminded him of himself when he was small, when the incident had not yet occurred.

He stopped walking when he suddenly heard a sound.

"_You're the one that never lets me sleep  
To my mind, down to my soul you touch my lips…"_

Someone was singing.

Natsu turned towards the door where the voice was coming from and slowly opened it as to not let the person know that he was listening.

"_You're the one that I can't wait to see  
With you here by my side I'm in ecstasy…_"

The person was a girl, judging by the femininity in which she was seated, and also by the tone in her voice that obviously implied that she was a female. She was wearing a black hoodie, her hair covered by the smooth fabric. She was sitting on the floor of the stage, her back turned.

"_I am all alone without you  
My days are dark without a glimpse of you…_"

He seated himself on a chair near the door, feeling unnaturally warm even though it was cold inside.

"_But now that you came into my life  
I feel complete…_"

He felt like he knew the person, but who? He had met a few girls in his life, but none of them were the one. He must've forgotten… He often forgot the people he met, and that particular habit was one of his unfortunate flaws.

"_The flowers bloom, my morning shines  
And I can see…_"

Finding himself hopeless, he studied the girl's voice. It was very familiar, but there was a new note to it: an incomprehensive loneliness and longing for something. It was a feeling he knew all too well.

"_Your love is like the sun…_"

His eyes widened.

"_That lights up my whole world…_"

Her voice was angelic. It was soft, it was gentle, it was soothing, it was… mellifluous. The overwhelming change in her voice struck him so hard that he almost fell off his seat in shock. And what was even more surprising was that because of that change, he was able to slowly piece the puzzle together.

"_I feel the warmth inside…_"

_Chemistry_, he thought as he stood up.

"_Your love is like the river…_"

_It's her. There's no doubt about it… _He stepped closer to the stage.

"_That flows down through my veins…_"

He was now standing in front of the stage, contemplating.

"_I feel the chill inside…_"

He was a bit hesitant, and his posture was slightly rigid. He still stood there, wondering why he felt the urge to do something… _anything_.

He stared at her back with an unreadable expression on his face, and then the next thing he did was write something on a piece of paper he got from the pocket of his pants and placed it on the floor of the stage. Then he turned towards the exit, gave one last glance at her, and walked away while listening to her singing what had become his favourite song.

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**End of the First Part**

[To be continued next week]

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**A/N:** That felt good to write. :) By the way, I deeply apologize if the story confuses you. If you have any questions, simply ask me in a review and I will PM you. But if you are simply a guest and do not have an account, then I will answer you in the next chapter. If some of you do not like this story, then tell me so. I do not mind. Flames are even welcome, but sorry to say, they will be forgotten after reading, but I will surely keep in mind of the mistakes you will mention to me. This is my first story, and by saying this, I am not implying that you will have to go easy on me. I am not a very sensitive person, so any insults thrown at me will be ignored easily. I am also not a really friendly person, but I do not bark and I do not bite. I am simply civil to those who I don't know yet. I am also not very good in English, so if you inform me of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, I am understanding about it. But if you've noticed that I use the word 'favourite' instead of 'favorite' and 'savour' instead of 'savor', it's because I have more than a half of British blood running through my veins, so I've become accustomed to the British dictionary and the spellings. I'm sorry if it bothers you.

P.S: I'm half-Chinese, half-British and half-Filipino. Are there people here who're the same?


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